Anything Goes with Bonnie

Bonnie is 94 years old and used to be a professional dancer.  She was recently struck by a car, fracturing her sternum.  This is the first time she has performed in six months.  

Charlie Haden (The First and Last)

(August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014)

This is a recording of bass player jazz great Charlie Haden when he was two years old singing on his father's country radio show.  Charlie continued to sing on the show but at the age of 15 he contracted polio and lost use of his vocal cords.  He didn't sing publicly again until he was 70.  Here is the second and final vocal recording he made.

While on a world tour, Haden refused to perform in Portugal because of the country's politics and human rights violations.  He was coerced to perform by the band leader because he was under contract.  Out of protest, he dedicated one of his songs to the Black Liberation Movement in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau.  The crowd of over 20,000 people, mostly students, went wild with cheering.  Later, before boarding his plane at the airport, Charlie was arrested and taken into custody.  The US Embassy refused to help him because the US government was embarrassed about his comments.  He was eventually released.  Twenty years later after Portugal was under new leadership, he was invited back to perform.  Upon walking on stage, the crowd of 40,000 began chanting his name over and over.  No prophet is recognized in his own country. 

Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014)

Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014)
Here is a recording of Elaine after 14 hours of recording the cast album of COMPANY.  They saved her song for last, it was about three a.m. and she wasn't hitting the notes.  She came in the next morning and nailed it.

My Mother's Garden

My mother was an avid gardener and her yard was overflowing with a huge variety of flowering plants.  Each year she took hundreds of photographs of her plants as they flowered.  I was looking through some files and found them so I compiled a few into a short video.

The music "We Will Rest In You," is from a CD called "Blessed Assurance" played by Les stahl published by World Library Publications.
https://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/1397.htm

When my mom died, in memory of her, I took one of everything from her yard and transplanted it into mine where they are thriving in my full sun light.  She often recited this poem:
The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth